project:BDR 2006 Evo STU build thread
Oct 11, 2012, 11:12 AM
#306
Evolving Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Maryland
Posts: 111
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
), but I have never gone higher on pressures in the wet/rain. I guess in a full on monsoon it might make sense, but for a wet/damp course where hydroplaning isn't really an issue, I would think the softer sidewall would be a little better with the general idea of softening up the car for the wet conditions. That way when you turn the wheel you roll on the shocks, then the tires a bit, which creates less sliding and more general "grip". But sounds to me like you're saying if you really wanted to do that softening up thing right, soften shocks, disconnect sway bars, then increase pressures. I could see that working. But if you're lazy about it, I don't think softening pressures is the wrong idea per se. I've had quite a few excellent results in the wet/damp with that strategy, but perhaps it's just the awesomeness of AWD.
I do have to say though, I will be testing out that theory at a future wet event.
Oct 11, 2012, 01:12 PM
#307
Not saying you're wrong Marshall (or am I? ), but I have never gone higher on pressures in the wet/rain. I guess in a full on monsoon it might make sense, but for a wet/damp course where hydroplaning isn't really an issue, I would think the softer sidewall would be a little better with the general idea of softening up the car for the wet conditions. That way when you turn the wheel you roll on the shocks, then the tires a bit, which creates less sliding and more general "grip".
But sounds to me like you're saying if you really wanted to do that softening up thing right, soften shocks, disconnect sway bars, then increase pressures. I could see that working. But if you're lazy about it, I don't think softening pressures is the wrong idea per se. I've had quite a few excellent results in the wet/damp with that strategy, but perhaps it's just the awesomeness of AWD.
I do have to say though, I will be testing out that theory at a future wet event.
), but I have never gone higher on pressures in the wet/rain. I guess in a full on monsoon it might make sense, but for a wet/damp course where hydroplaning isn't really an issue, I would think the softer sidewall would be a little better with the general idea of softening up the car for the wet conditions. That way when you turn the wheel you roll on the shocks, then the tires a bit, which creates less sliding and more general "grip". But sounds to me like you're saying if you really wanted to do that softening up thing right, soften shocks, disconnect sway bars, then increase pressures. I could see that working. But if you're lazy about it, I don't think softening pressures is the wrong idea per se. I've had quite a few excellent results in the wet/damp with that strategy, but perhaps it's just the awesomeness of AWD.
I do have to say though, I will be testing out that theory at a future wet event.
either way i think 26psi is too low for a 245 on an evo ever. getting tire to smash over on the sidewall to get it to look like it's putting down the correct footprint is not the same has having the right pressure and correct footprint. just my opinion though, and i live in california so what do i know about rain?
Oct 13, 2012, 08:03 PM
#309
Event #22: BMWCCA @ Waldorf 10-13-2012
With the Autocrossers Inc finale on Sunday I wanted to get some warmup in at the local BMW club event. They are usually over pretty fast if you sign up for morning heat and would be good practice for Sunday.
The course was tight, like really tight, like I'm not sure I ever hit 50 mph tight. It was just a chop-distance-everywhere type deal where there wasn't much setting up to do or much creativity possible in line choice. And virtually no WOT sections (at least in an STU car).
I ended up with a 43.0 / 42.6 / (spin) / 42.2 running in the first (coldest) heat. I'm pretty sure that was FTD if you ignore people's fun runs. Top PAX would have been AJ in his STC Civic though - he had a 42.6 in the morning and ended up with a 42.1 in the afternoon.
Trunk monkey in action!
My front lip is really hurting and my rear bumper is starting to pop off at the corners. The car needs to see a body shop in the offseason for sure.
With the Autocrossers Inc finale on Sunday I wanted to get some warmup in at the local BMW club event. They are usually over pretty fast if you sign up for morning heat and would be good practice for Sunday.
The course was tight, like really tight, like I'm not sure I ever hit 50 mph tight. It was just a chop-distance-everywhere type deal where there wasn't much setting up to do or much creativity possible in line choice. And virtually no WOT sections (at least in an STU car).
I ended up with a 43.0 / 42.6 / (spin) / 42.2 running in the first (coldest) heat. I'm pretty sure that was FTD if you ignore people's fun runs. Top PAX would have been AJ in his STC Civic though - he had a 42.6 in the morning and ended up with a 42.1 in the afternoon.
Trunk monkey in action!
My front lip is really hurting and my rear bumper is starting to pop off at the corners. The car needs to see a body shop in the offseason for sure.
Oct 14, 2012, 06:46 PM
#310
Newbie
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: MD
Posts: 55
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
John, your car has come a long way. It is infinitely better than the last time I drove it. Now, do the right thing and feed the purple crack addiction. ASP is calling.
Obligatory pics from today.
Fat man in a little seat:
G-Monkey, holding on for dear life:
Also, officially RIP to the front lip.
Obligatory pics from today.
Fat man in a little seat:
G-Monkey, holding on for dear life:
Also, officially RIP to the front lip.
Oct 20, 2012, 02:33 PM
#311
Event #23: Autocrossers Inc @ Waldorf: 10-14-2012
Coming into this event, the Pro class was very close -
Kevin (DSP E30) - 33 points
Me - 33 points
Karl (ESP Pontiac) - 32 points
Lee (BSP M3) - 31 points
One cool thing was that we had each missed two events, so it was a fair fight - no one was winning purely because they showed up more. I hosed myself running ASP at the first event - it was wet, perfect STU weather and I was on 255 street tires instead of 245s, which nuked my index. It had been close all season so good odds the finale would be close too.
It’s hard to make a fun layout at Waldorf, but Lee put together a great one that was a good mix of elements and speeds. To make things more interesting, Brian H (trophied in ASP at Nats few years back I believe) was co-driving in Lee’s car and Mike was codriving in mine (street prepared cars break? no wai!). So every spot was going to matter with the points standings the way they were. It’s one of the cool things about running Pro at AI.
STU, thankfully, ran 3rd heat so I would know where I sat going in instead of running and then having to wait to see what was going to happen. As 2nd heat ended, Sam S (you know, that Sam) was in 1st in his new SS car, by a hair over Brian in Lee’s car. Brian had run a 41.1 which was very fast, so I knew I’d need to do fairly well in order to stay near Lee. If Lee was 2 spots ahead of me we’d tie and if he was 3 spots ahead he’d finish ahead of me.
Mike went out first. The last time he had driven the car it was on January in 35 degree weather and on 2 year old Dunlops. His feedback was much more positive this time
“I wasn’t ready for that, I was like, holy F#*!@ this is a bullet” --mike
He ran a 44.5, adjusting to both a) the car not breaking mid-run and b) the reduced grip of street tires. He did mention that the car was pretty loose. I was still on the “default” settings on the shocks - 3/3 front, 3/3 rear - so we took 2 clicks of rebound out of the rear, which had worked well the previous day.
I went out on my first run and ran a 42.8+1. The cone I hit was stupid and I knew I could improve on that. Kevin had run a 43.1 in his DSP car so if I could clean that up I’d be in good shape but it also depended what the 3rd heat folks did. Karl then ran a 43.4 in ESP. BSP was originally scheduled to run 2nd heat but Lee let Brian run solo and then ran 3rd heat, last spot in line. He ran a 42.0 on his first run which slid him pretty far up in Pro.
Mike then went out with the new suspension settings and ran a 43.2, moving him to 7th in Pro. He said that the car’s handling was pretty much fixed (yay Motons and their meaningful clicks). A very quick adjustment to street tires. I went out on my 2nd run and ran a 42.4, slotting me up to 3rd in Pro. We were both psyched because the car was really good everywhere - including the really slow painful stuff where the car was working very well and letting us get on the gas early. Lee ran a 41.6 which moved him .094 behind me into 4th in Pro.
My 2nd run
3rd runs. Mike ran a 42.8, close on my heels. I went out and took out an entire wall, ripping out part of the undertray. I coasted the rest of the run to keep the tires from overheating (the interval was pretty close, so not a lot of time between runs). We both thought the car was pushier than it had been previously. No help for Lee or Karl.
4th runs. Mike ran a 42.6... plus one. He hit the last hittable slalom cone. The car was REALLY pushy in a couple spots, like the [tg] penultimate [/tg] right hander and the slow turnaround. Like, tire-screechingly so. I added some two clicks each of compression and rebound in the rear (why the compression? excellent question, I don’t know what I was thinking) before my last run. I wasn’t able to improve - 42.7 clean, leaving the door open. Lee ran a slower 41.6 and Karl ran a 42.9+2.
Mike’s 4th run
I ended up 3rd in Pro, but significantly, first overall for the season, including two wins This was, for me, a pretty big accomplishment as the folks who run Pro with AI are pretty fast - definitely a lot of trophy-at-Nationals folks in the mix. That said, a few caveats - Kevin was on old tires and Lee’s car had problems for large chunks of the year, so they were at a disadvantage. But still
Data breakdown
Comparing Mike’s 4th run (best raw, 42.6) to my 2nd run (best clean 42.4)
Section 1 - start, sweeper, big sweeper, start turnaround - I took a tighter line off the getgo, minimizing distance. Mike was also giving up a little time here because he was shifting to 2nd early (being a nice codriver and taking it easy on the car). I entered the fast sweeper faster - getting to 55 mph and doing it more quickly - where Mike was a bit more careful and peaked at 53 mph. But he stayed ahead of the wall better and was able to carry a lot more speed through the rest of it, into the braking zone so he was only down .4 or so in the middle of the turnaround.
Section 2 - exit turnaround, big fast stuff, fast slalom - We both ran inconsistent lines out of here. I got on the gas too early but made up for it and when I hit the rev limiter I was in a better position. But, in an attempt to stay ahead in the slalom, I got on the brakes HARD - slowing down to 47 mph before starting to pick it back up in the slalom. Mike was patient at the beginning of the turnaround, but got behind on the offset, so he was in a slightly worse position shortly before the slalom, but made up for it by staying on the gas a lot longer instead of chickening out like I did. At the same spot on the course (slightly before the slalom), I was doing 47 mph while Mike was banging off the rev limiter at 63 mph. ****! Mike made up a good .5 on me in this section. I did make up part of it in the rest of the slalom though - when I exited the slalom I was at 52 mph where Mike peaked at 50 (presumably, trying to avoid that cone slowed him down). Entering the final two sweepers, I was .6 ahead.
Section 3 - was about the same. I did less distance but slower, Mike added some distance but was on the gas more. Pretty much a draw. Watching the video, the car was massively pushy through this bit for Mike and still quite pushy for me.
Short version -
First lefthander - tie
First (tight) righthander - Me (slightly less distance)
Big sweeper - tie
Turnaround - tie
Beginning of the slalom - Mike
End of the slalom - Me
Last sweepers/finish - tie
An STU car would have needed a 41.8 to catch Strano (in a not-yet-set-up SS car). With the best parts of our runs I think a 42.0 would definitely have been doable. I needed to fix my slalom entry big time and Mike needed to chop a little distance.
The big regret I have was not thinking clearly after run 3 when the car was suddenly pushy. The car had been awesome for my first 2 runs. But once the tires came up to temp, it was pushy. It never occured to me to attempt some sort of adjustment to fix it. In retrospect it absolutely makes sense. The car was looseish when the tires were cold - we compensated for it with shocks - and then it was good. Then the tires got warm enough to grip effectively. And I should have added the rebound back, or played with pressures, or something, but instead just drove around it (and not well). So the push continued and the car didn’t improve for me.
Oh yeah and I did not look ahead all day. Bad habit!
It’s unclear whether I am doing anything else this year. The real world beckons and all that.
Overall I am pretty happy with how it came together. Last year, the car was down on power and not handling particularly well. At the last DC event in 2011, I was 2 seconds off Josh+Shane (in raw time, not even clean time) and lost to an STC Civic who was legally running STU. This year however, I was much much closer to Josh+Shane at Fedex, though a ways off at Nationals.
Offseason plans
Things definitely on the list:
* Fix the front bumper/lip. It’s truly screwed now.
On one side the lip is cracked all the way through.
This time it’s getting clear-bra body armor.
* Get the shocks rebuilt. I think they’re probably fine, but it’s been two years and 20kish miles and they are not exactly designed for daily use, so it can’t hurt to have someone check them. I’ll probably mail them out to Performance Shock.
* Maybe get some of the bushings done.
* Maybe spring rate changes. The car works great on asphalt, but it might need a little more front spring to keep the rears down on concrete. In general, I need a better strategy for high grip surfaces (some combination of tire pressure/shock settings/spring rates/bar settings/nitrogen pressure that has the car rotating better).
That’s kind of... it. I think seat time and focusing on being consistent and building good habits (like LOOKING THE F* AHEAD) are really what’s left.
So yeah, this thread is likely to be very boring for the next 6 months or so...
Coming into this event, the Pro class was very close -
Kevin (DSP E30) - 33 points
Me - 33 points
Karl (ESP Pontiac) - 32 points
Lee (BSP M3) - 31 points
One cool thing was that we had each missed two events, so it was a fair fight - no one was winning purely because they showed up more. I hosed myself running ASP at the first event - it was wet, perfect STU weather and I was on 255 street tires instead of 245s, which nuked my index. It had been close all season so good odds the finale would be close too.
It’s hard to make a fun layout at Waldorf, but Lee put together a great one that was a good mix of elements and speeds. To make things more interesting, Brian H (trophied in ASP at Nats few years back I believe) was co-driving in Lee’s car and Mike was codriving in mine (street prepared cars break? no wai!). So every spot was going to matter with the points standings the way they were. It’s one of the cool things about running Pro at AI.
STU, thankfully, ran 3rd heat so I would know where I sat going in instead of running and then having to wait to see what was going to happen. As 2nd heat ended, Sam S (you know, that Sam) was in 1st in his new SS car, by a hair over Brian in Lee’s car. Brian had run a 41.1 which was very fast, so I knew I’d need to do fairly well in order to stay near Lee. If Lee was 2 spots ahead of me we’d tie and if he was 3 spots ahead he’d finish ahead of me.
Mike went out first. The last time he had driven the car it was on January in 35 degree weather and on 2 year old Dunlops. His feedback was much more positive this time
“I wasn’t ready for that, I was like, holy F#*!@ this is a bullet” --mike
He ran a 44.5, adjusting to both a) the car not breaking mid-run and b) the reduced grip of street tires. He did mention that the car was pretty loose. I was still on the “default” settings on the shocks - 3/3 front, 3/3 rear - so we took 2 clicks of rebound out of the rear, which had worked well the previous day.
I went out on my first run and ran a 42.8+1. The cone I hit was stupid and I knew I could improve on that. Kevin had run a 43.1 in his DSP car so if I could clean that up I’d be in good shape but it also depended what the 3rd heat folks did. Karl then ran a 43.4 in ESP. BSP was originally scheduled to run 2nd heat but Lee let Brian run solo and then ran 3rd heat, last spot in line. He ran a 42.0 on his first run which slid him pretty far up in Pro.
Mike then went out with the new suspension settings and ran a 43.2, moving him to 7th in Pro. He said that the car’s handling was pretty much fixed (yay Motons and their meaningful clicks). A very quick adjustment to street tires. I went out on my 2nd run and ran a 42.4, slotting me up to 3rd in Pro. We were both psyched because the car was really good everywhere - including the really slow painful stuff where the car was working very well and letting us get on the gas early. Lee ran a 41.6 which moved him .094 behind me into 4th in Pro.
My 2nd run
3rd runs. Mike ran a 42.8, close on my heels. I went out and took out an entire wall, ripping out part of the undertray. I coasted the rest of the run to keep the tires from overheating (the interval was pretty close, so not a lot of time between runs). We both thought the car was pushier than it had been previously. No help for Lee or Karl.
4th runs. Mike ran a 42.6... plus one. He hit the last hittable slalom cone. The car was REALLY pushy in a couple spots, like the [tg] penultimate [/tg] right hander and the slow turnaround. Like, tire-screechingly so. I added some two clicks each of compression and rebound in the rear (why the compression? excellent question, I don’t know what I was thinking) before my last run. I wasn’t able to improve - 42.7 clean, leaving the door open. Lee ran a slower 41.6 and Karl ran a 42.9+2.
Mike’s 4th run
I ended up 3rd in Pro, but significantly, first overall for the season, including two wins
This was, for me, a pretty big accomplishment as the folks who run Pro with AI are pretty fast - definitely a lot of trophy-at-Nationals folks in the mix. That said, a few caveats - Kevin was on old tires and Lee’s car had problems for large chunks of the year, so they were at a disadvantage. But still Data breakdown
Comparing Mike’s 4th run (best raw, 42.6) to my 2nd run (best clean 42.4)
Section 1 - start, sweeper, big sweeper, start turnaround - I took a tighter line off the getgo, minimizing distance. Mike was also giving up a little time here because he was shifting to 2nd early (being a nice codriver and taking it easy on the car). I entered the fast sweeper faster - getting to 55 mph and doing it more quickly - where Mike was a bit more careful and peaked at 53 mph. But he stayed ahead of the wall better and was able to carry a lot more speed through the rest of it, into the braking zone so he was only down .4 or so in the middle of the turnaround.
Section 2 - exit turnaround, big fast stuff, fast slalom - We both ran inconsistent lines out of here. I got on the gas too early but made up for it and when I hit the rev limiter I was in a better position. But, in an attempt to stay ahead in the slalom, I got on the brakes HARD - slowing down to 47 mph before starting to pick it back up in the slalom. Mike was patient at the beginning of the turnaround, but got behind on the offset, so he was in a slightly worse position shortly before the slalom, but made up for it by staying on the gas a lot longer instead of chickening out like I did. At the same spot on the course (slightly before the slalom), I was doing 47 mph while Mike was banging off the rev limiter at 63 mph. ****! Mike made up a good .5 on me in this section. I did make up part of it in the rest of the slalom though - when I exited the slalom I was at 52 mph where Mike peaked at 50 (presumably, trying to avoid that cone slowed him down). Entering the final two sweepers, I was .6 ahead.
Section 3 - was about the same. I did less distance but slower, Mike added some distance but was on the gas more. Pretty much a draw. Watching the video, the car was massively pushy through this bit for Mike and still quite pushy for me.
Short version -
First lefthander - tie
First (tight) righthander - Me (slightly less distance)
Big sweeper - tie
Turnaround - tie
Beginning of the slalom - Mike
End of the slalom - Me
Last sweepers/finish - tie
An STU car would have needed a 41.8 to catch Strano (in a not-yet-set-up SS car). With the best parts of our runs I think a 42.0 would definitely have been doable. I needed to fix my slalom entry big time and Mike needed to chop a little distance.
The big regret I have was not thinking clearly after run 3 when the car was suddenly pushy. The car had been awesome for my first 2 runs. But once the tires came up to temp, it was pushy. It never occured to me to attempt some sort of adjustment to fix it. In retrospect it absolutely makes sense. The car was looseish when the tires were cold - we compensated for it with shocks - and then it was good. Then the tires got warm enough to grip effectively. And I should have added the rebound back, or played with pressures, or something, but instead just drove around it (and not well). So the push continued and the car didn’t improve for me.
Oh yeah and I did not look ahead all day. Bad habit!
It’s unclear whether I am doing anything else this year. The real world beckons and all that.
Overall I am pretty happy with how it came together. Last year, the car was down on power and not handling particularly well. At the last DC event in 2011, I was 2 seconds off Josh+Shane (in raw time, not even clean time) and lost to an STC Civic who was legally running STU. This year however, I was much much closer to Josh+Shane at Fedex, though a ways off at Nationals.
Offseason plans
Things definitely on the list:
* Fix the front bumper/lip. It’s truly screwed now.
On one side the lip is cracked all the way through.
This time it’s getting clear-bra body armor.
* Get the shocks rebuilt. I think they’re probably fine, but it’s been two years and 20kish miles and they are not exactly designed for daily use, so it can’t hurt to have someone check them. I’ll probably mail them out to Performance Shock.
* Maybe get some of the bushings done.
* Maybe spring rate changes. The car works great on asphalt, but it might need a little more front spring to keep the rears down on concrete. In general, I need a better strategy for high grip surfaces (some combination of tire pressure/shock settings/spring rates/bar settings/nitrogen pressure that has the car rotating better).
That’s kind of... it. I think seat time and focusing on being consistent and building good habits (like LOOKING THE F* AHEAD) are really what’s left.
So yeah, this thread is likely to be very boring for the next 6 months or so...
Oct 20, 2012, 03:15 PM
#312
Your off season will be a bit busier if you decide to go to ASP
Nice work on the AI championship! We should talk about your shock plans in the off season. I've been trying some stuff with mine since Nats and it definitely feels better. The key is actually using the dyno plots you get when they are rebuilt to setup the shocks for your car and current spring rates.
Not sure if you have this yet or not, but I also recommend the cusco adjustable front sway bar mount to help with fine tuning. I added one at nationals and was able to dial a little understeer out on the concrete.
Nice work on the AI championship! We should talk about your shock plans in the off season. I've been trying some stuff with mine since Nats and it definitely feels better. The key is actually using the dyno plots you get when they are rebuilt to setup the shocks for your car and current spring rates.
Not sure if you have this yet or not, but I also recommend the cusco adjustable front sway bar mount to help with fine tuning. I added one at nationals and was able to dial a little understeer out on the concrete.
Oct 21, 2012, 11:21 AM
#313
Newbie
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: MD
Posts: 55
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I'm used to having to add a little distance to keep the momentum up. I need to change my driving style a bit to suit an STU car. I'm not used to low grip + horsepower. I think if I got a little more familiar with how to make an STU car work well, I could at least make you, shane and josh earn it.
Nov 5, 2012, 06:25 PM
#314
I'm used to having to add a little distance to keep the momentum up. I need to change my driving style a bit to suit an STU car. I'm not used to low grip + horsepower. I think if I got a little more familiar with how to make an STU car work well, I could at least make you, shane and josh earn it.
I was worried I might have screwed myself out of the AI championship on points!Brake brackets!
I thought I posted this, but I think I wrote it up and never posted it.
After ruining two events, including the ProFinale, with brake line failures, it was past time to get it sorted in a more permanent way. I talked to Chad about it and he said they could definitely put something together. Thanks to Columbus Day, I made a trip up to CBRD without even having to miss work.
Here's the car on a lift at their immaculate shop:
Here are the brackets - simple, and effective:
I am very much looking forward to not worrying about this anymore. I’ll still carry spare lines and flare nut wrenches with me though
Offseason plans
Things definitely on the list:
...
* Get the shocks rebuilt. I think they’re probably fine, but it’s been two years and 20kish miles and they are not exactly designed for daily use, so it can’t hurt to have someone check them. I’ll probably mail them out to Performance Shock.
...
* Maybe spring rate changes. The car works great on asphalt, but it might need a little more front spring to keep the rears down on concrete. In general, I need a better strategy for high grip surfaces (some combination of tire pressure/shock settings/spring rates/bar settings/nitrogen pressure that has the car rotating better).
Things definitely on the list:
...
* Get the shocks rebuilt. I think they’re probably fine, but it’s been two years and 20kish miles and they are not exactly designed for daily use, so it can’t hurt to have someone check them. I’ll probably mail them out to Performance Shock.
...
* Maybe spring rate changes. The car works great on asphalt, but it might need a little more front spring to keep the rears down on concrete. In general, I need a better strategy for high grip surfaces (some combination of tire pressure/shock settings/spring rates/bar settings/nitrogen pressure that has the car rotating better).
Your off season will be a bit busier if you decide to go to ASP
Nice work on the AI championship! We should talk about your shock plans in the off season. I've been trying some stuff with mine since Nats and it definitely feels better. The key is actually using the dyno plots you get when they are rebuilt to setup the shocks for your car and current spring rates.
Not sure if you have this yet or not, but I also recommend the cusco adjustable front sway bar mount to help with fine tuning. I added one at nationals and was able to dial a little understeer out on the concrete.
Nice work on the AI championship! We should talk about your shock plans in the off season. I've been trying some stuff with mine since Nats and it definitely feels better. The key is actually using the dyno plots you get when they are rebuilt to setup the shocks for your car and current spring rates.
Not sure if you have this yet or not, but I also recommend the cusco adjustable front sway bar mount to help with fine tuning. I added one at nationals and was able to dial a little understeer out on the concrete.
I meant to ask for the dyno sheets when I bought the shocks from Andrew but forgot. Turns out PSI still had them on file (for the fronts at least), but didn't know what the settings were for the graphs:
One thing I am strongly considering is swapping for the fancy double digressive pistons:
http://moton-usa.com/2011/11/moton-2...t-updates.html
Double Digressive Pistion (DDP) Technology
Consumers and professional race teams have always appreciated Moton’s smooth operation attributed to the “zero preload” piston that has carried the product for more than ten years of dominance in racing. Our 44mm DDP piston design, similar to the one developed for GRAND-AM racing, has been proven on a 7-post (shaker) rig to offer what race drivers and race engineers want – direct feel from the chassis at slow shaft velocities and soaking up the bumps and curbs at high speeds. Digressive pistons allow the damper engineer to preload the shim stack enough to give the driver control, but also to “blow off” over bumps and curbs. This same design (40mm piston) found in our AST brand won three GRAND-AM races in 2011 and nearly 50% of the podium spots after being introduced half way through the season. We began testing DDP for street cars and noticed a byproduct of the new design. When the rebound adjustment is soft, the damper curve looks similar to an OEM street shock profile. When the rebound adjustment is hard, the damper curve looks like a race shock! The digressive piston will be available as an option on all product lines.
Consumers and professional race teams have always appreciated Moton’s smooth operation attributed to the “zero preload” piston that has carried the product for more than ten years of dominance in racing. Our 44mm DDP piston design, similar to the one developed for GRAND-AM racing, has been proven on a 7-post (shaker) rig to offer what race drivers and race engineers want – direct feel from the chassis at slow shaft velocities and soaking up the bumps and curbs at high speeds. Digressive pistons allow the damper engineer to preload the shim stack enough to give the driver control, but also to “blow off” over bumps and curbs. This same design (40mm piston) found in our AST brand won three GRAND-AM races in 2011 and nearly 50% of the podium spots after being introduced half way through the season. We began testing DDP for street cars and noticed a byproduct of the new design. When the rebound adjustment is soft, the damper curve looks similar to an OEM street shock profile. When the rebound adjustment is hard, the damper curve looks like a race shock! The digressive piston will be available as an option on all product lines.
The difference at low speeds is pretty amazing. I don't know if it's all marketing fluff or what, but even if it's not as digressive as the Mustang shocks in question it still seems like it would be an upgrade in streetability for sure, not to mention it should handle bumps and other rough stuff better. It's not *that* much more money over a regular rebuild (the pistons are $125 each, a rebuild at PSI is $200/corner and I was going to do the rebuild anyway) and seems like it would be a noticeable upgrade.
I would definitely like to share notes though.. well, I guess you have seen mine
